We Danced At Lepa(r)k! Marina Promontory

We were hoping, but not too optimistic about Lepa(r)k! happening for a second time. (Lepa(r)k! Tiong Bahru was the inaugural last November.) But when Member of Parliament (MP) Indranee Rajah and Tanglin-Cairnhill Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC) gave the go-ahead, we were thrilled to bits. As dusk fell, Ms Indranee Rajah joined us, gave a short, sharp and sweet speech, and sat with us to enjoy a couple of songs from 'Pleasantry'.

Dates were a bit of a problem to settle on, but the venue of Marina Promontory was gorgeous. It was bigger than Tiong Bahru Park, and the space meant the sound could spread further instead of being contained and blasting the windows of the nearby residents. (Well, let's hope the dwellers at The Sail ain't too unhappy about the sound... :P) The view was unbeatable. Importantly, a continuous breeze stirred through. We took a calculated risk and skipped the bawang-chilli-mambo-jumbo. We were confident that the NDP committee across the bay would sort that out to no fault. Heheheheheh. But we were worried by the week of rain and grey prior. It was great that skies were clear and held the day before for a smooth set-up and paved the way for a dry ground for us to loll around.

Lepa(r)k! at Marina Promontory dawned bright and fair. Gorgeous summer day. When 5pm came, it was bright, but not sizzling. The venue was shaded. A continuous breeze whispered through. Perfect! We all chipped to bring brought mats and rolled in many cooler boxes filled to the brim with drinks- juices, water, beer, ice wine, red wine, whisky and ice cubes. The others made delicious sandwiches on yummy bread, pasta that tasted wonderful when cold, and whipped up salads. Yes, we picnic in style. :) We had an insane urge to run around and do somersaults. Some of us did! The kiddos came along! The volume emanating from the stage was too loud for children to be right up front. No matter, they had the water's edge and the back to retreat to. Big love and hugs to all my friends (who don't usually attend outdoor events or local gigs) who braved the humidity to pop by to see what this was all about. It's not inconceivable to have a comfortable outdoor event in Singapore. If grass isn't an ideal seat, there's a long concrete bench lining the rails along the waterfront. Many brought their very cool indie kids in prams, carriers, and the older ones were dancing!

'In Each Hand A Cutlass' covered 2 songs from 'Seam'. Of course Sooyoung Park (of then Bitch Magnet and Seam) had to be on vocals. We're very tickled that he's quietly moved to Singapore, and told no one, till now.

Not really sure if the fireworks were a draw; an added bonus for sure, but the audience who were there for the NDP rehearsals stood way back and cleared out in a hurry after. Those who were genuinely interested, hung out for a bit. The CCC had some very polite and enthusiastic young girls to approach the audience do a survey. I took a hard look at the questions. They weren't really about the event. The one question about it seemed like paying lip service to the reason of us filling in this form. It was more of securing a database and getting an indication of the profile of the event attendees. I wasn't at all keen to obediently fill up forms that asked for NRIC number, marital status or race. If you're looking for people to volunteer or participate in events, why would race matter? They wanted to hawk their Passion Card. Thank gawwd they didn't blare it out on stage at every interval. That would be so crappy. What, have it announced and hope for people to walk over to your booth to sign up? Seriously. Come talk to me, and if I wanted to, I'd do it online. The Guardian pharmacies and supermarkets are already annoying me at checkout on a daily basis, and I'm now trained to address the cashier first, "Hello. No, I don't have a Passion Card, and I don't want it." I didn't come to a gig, an indie rock gig at that, to have to hear this damn question for the 10005th time. Anyway, the chow was no better this round, but at least they didn't sell drinks at cut-throat prices. Hey, it's a BYO, so everyone did just that, and awesomely so.

Not going to repeat the line-up. The bands were very decent. This is an event to showcase Singapore bands after all, even though there was one guest singer-songwriter Kellie Lloyd (of Screamfeeder) from Australia. She played with the talented Ben Lim on drums. I was glad to hear the two bands I've never heard- 'Amnesia Haze' and 'Pleasantry'. They've been practising. Sounded good on stage. 'Another Sunday Afternoon' debuted new songs that would be part of their new EP. All time favorite 'Monster Cat' did one last live show in town before going to do Singapore proud at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. It wasn't till the end of the night when inspired by Philip who didn't care if he was the only one sorta-moshing at the front, we decided to whoosh forward and jive to 'The Great Spy Experiment'. Their songs are awesome indie rock that will do no justice to the genre if we don't get up to flail our arms around a little at each gig.

We don't know about the possibility of holding a third Lepa(r)k! somewhere else, in another park. That's half the fun of dealing with logistics. We hope that we've done well enough to justify a third. People do come to these outdoor events. We just have to persuade these good folks that an indie rock concert in the park is more than the music. And at Marina Promontory today, we saw more than just bobbing to the music. The event lasted 6 hours from 5pm to 11pm. Who in the right mind would stay throughout? We wanted people to just pop in and out. Fellow Singaporeans, residents, migrant workers, tourists, dogs, people of all races and colors stroll by for a day out in fresh air, replete with picnic mats and containers of food and drinks laid out, and generally enjoying the fine weather, sitting down on the grass to soak in the skyline. That's what matters. That's the point of Lepa(r)k! really.